Azalea

I Learn The Truth, Kind Of

**AZALEA**

   As I walked out of the bar with the strange boys, a scary thought occurred to me; I had no idea if these boys were like Mrs. Henry. What if the only reason they fought Henry was to get me, their winning prize. Now that they had me, they could pretty much do whatever they wanted to me. They had formed a triangle around me, the blonde one and the one with the scar led, with the tall one in the back. That left directly to the side of me open. Just as I was about to dart to my left, the tall one stepped in my way. I hated him. It was like he could read my every move. I realized that now the back and right side of me was wide open, but as I was about to run, the tall one reached around me, grabbing my right shoulder. Now if I tried to go anywhere, he'd just tighten his grip and hold me in place. After we had left the bar, we walked down the road a few yards, then took a left into a little woodsy area. We were following the trail, and I tried to keep my bearings but there was no point. I had no idea where I was, no idea who I was with, and if my father was okay. I was about to cry again when the boy holding my shoulder spoke to me.
   "Please don't, we can't stand to see you upset." He said lightly, as if we had known each other personally. I wanted to scream. If they cared about me so much, then why were they torturing me like this.
   "If you don't want me upset, take me home. I'll let this all slide." I said out loud. He chuckled.
   "Believe me, we're doing you a favor. Your dad? He planned on beating you when you finally showed. After he asked you where you had been of course." He said, his expression dark. I froze.
   "You don't know that." I said, slowly starting to walk again.
   "Maybe not, but I know a lot about you. I know that the only reason you do this is to get attention from him. I know that's why you had to go to the hospital once, and that you probably should've gone more than once too. I know.."
   "Stop," I interrupted, "you know nothing about me. Nothing about what happened to our family." He didn't answer. My heart was racing again, and I almost wanted to make a run for it again.
   "He doesn't remember." I said after a long time.
   "What?" He asked.
   "My dad. He doesn't remember doing it. Ever."
   "How? That seems pretty hard to forget to me."
   "He drinks. Mostly because of my mom, but I'm sure you knew that too." I said, my anger getting the best of me. I wanted to hit him so badly, right in the gut, but before I could get the chance, the blonde boy stopped walking.
   "There it is, beautiful little thing, isn't she?" He said, flashing his grin again. It was a blue convertible Ford Mustang, with all the windows down. It was parked in the middle of the dirt road that intersected the little path we were on. The blonde boy got in the driving seat, and the boy with the scar got into the passenger seat. The tall one opened the door with his free hand and gently guided me in with his right hand. After we all loaded in, they locked the doors and rolled the windows up. I started fidgeting with my dress again, pulling on the purple bottom. I remembered all the clothes I had left in Sarah's car. I should've grabbed them. The tall boy reached into the front and pulled two brown bags from the passenger floorboard. He handed them to me. I peered inside, and saw the articles of clothing that I had left behind so long ago. This boy was seriously giving me the creeps. The boy with the scar turned to look at me. He had changed his shirt, I'm assuming because I had made him bleed.
   "Let's try this one more time." He said, glancing at the tall boy.
   "We'll start with introductions first." The tall one said.
   "I'm Collin." The blonde one said. "And him, that's Duska." Collin said, pointing at the one with the scar on his cheek.
   "I'm Finn. Now it's your turn." The tall boy said, holding out his hand to shake. I didn't take it. Finn sighed.
   "Her name is Azalea. She's about to turn fifteen, around next month, which explains the Ignare." He informed, sitting back in his chair. I stared at him. Okay, they were stalkers. They knew almost everything about me, and I hadn't told them anything about myself. Duska's fingers twitched nervously.
   "Azalea, the truth is, we're not normal." He said. Yeah, no kidding I thought to myself. Finn chuckled. I stared at him, what was with this guy.
   "We have something that humans don't, we have special abilities. Like Finn, he can read and alter minds. And me. I can travel anywhere I want to as long as I know the location. And Collin..." Collin shook his head as Duska trailed off. I thought that these guys were insane. I was kidnapped by psychopaths. Finn sighed.
"If only it was that easy." He said, studying my face. No way he could read my mind. He raised an eyebrow. Alright crazy, prove it. I thought of something crazy, daring him to recite it.
"Llamas wearing sombreros." He said, a slight smile playing on his lips. I squinted. Okay... he was good at guessing.
"Oprah riding a dolphin jumping through a ring of fire." He said, squinting back. I shook my head in amazement. One last try...
Penelope the pig nosed girl." Finn said almost immediately. Okay, there was no way he was that good of a guesser. Collin was trying to suppress his laughter, and Finn was trying not to smile as well. Duska stared at me. I didn't think this was funny, this was terrifying. I looked at him.
"You can really teleport?" I asked, my voice almost a whisper. He nodded. There was only one more thing I needed to see before I really believed them.
"Prove it." I said. Duska has a faint smile, then he closed his eyes and was... gone. Nothing special happened, he just wasn't there anymore. I looked around, then heard a tapping on the window closest to me. I looked out and jumped. There he was, smiling and waving at me. I sank lower in my seat. Maybe I was asleep.
"You're not." Finn said sadly. Welp, that settled it. I'm living in a crazy world, with crazy people that have crazy superpowers. Great.